MARIETTA — Though River Ridge gave Sprayberry all it could handle, a standout performance from senior Neena Carter led the Lady Yellow Jackets to a 63-57 win Saturday.

With 34 points — more than half of Sprayberry’s total for the game — Carter managed to constantly break through River Ridge’s defense with powerful drives to the basket.

This was especially evident in the first half, in which Carter totaled 22 points.

“It was a very good performance by her,” Sprayberry coach Mark Giles. “We have a lot of good players, and they’ve got to leave someone open, and (Saturday) it was her. She did a good job of getting to the basket, and she created a lot of stuff defensively, which led to some of her points. She was good (Saturday).”

The contest was close throughout, as Sprayberry (2-1) found itself leading by four at the half, and by one at the end of the third quarter.

River Ridge (3-3) managed to tie it up with 7 minutes to go in the game, but a pair of turnovers led to two quick Sprayberry baskets, and the Lady Knights were unable to catch up.

Giles was pleased with the defensive pressure that the Lady Yellow Jackets were able to apply throughout the game.

“I think we did a pretty good job in our full-court, man-to-man pressure,” he said. “I think it caused a lot of turnovers, but more importantly, it just wore them down.”

Aysia Grimsley also had a solid outing for Sprayberry with 19 points. She was 6-for-8 from the free-throw line.

River Ridge coach Jason Taylor lamented the Lady Knights’ inability to score points off of their own forced turnovers.

“When they turned it over, we didn’t convert, and when we turned it over, they converted it into points,” Taylor said. “That was the big difference.”

Jordan Livesay led the Lady Knights with 24 points, with Jess Mlaska the only other River Ridge player to reach double digits with 10.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Sprayberry 60, River Ridge 46: After a hot start from the Yellow Jackets gave them a nine-point lead at the end of the first period, the Knights were able to keep pace for the rest of the game, but they could not make up the difference.

“We got control early and did some good things. We had some kids come off the bench and score for us,” Sprayberry coach Marc Carver said. “It’s fortunate when you hit shots right off the bat that give you the lead. We got some good looks at the basket and made some shots.”

Leading Sprayberry (4-3) with 26 points on the night was Armel Potter. Maurion Skrine and Nkem Ojeh both finished the game with 12.

Sprayberry found success defensively by limiting River Ridge’s leading scorer, Nick Masterson, to only 10 points.

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